Today's Scripture Reading (May 6, 2025): 1 Samuel 2
It was a dark period in Israel's History. The people had taken the Promised Land, but it seems that Joshua had one major drawback as a leader: he had no vision of what needed to come next. Because of this, Israel was completely rudderless in the politics of the Middle East. They occupied a fertile space between the empires in the North and Egypt in the south. It was like trying to live on a freeway between two cities and hoping that no cars would come by and interrupt your peace.
Israel was now placed at this busy intersection in the ancient world. And there was no end to the nations that wanted to drive the country out. At this point, Israel existed as a single nation. The time would come when Israel would exist as two nations: Israel and Judah. But before the reign of Saul, Israel existed as twelve loosely connected tribes, held together by a belief in the same God and a reverence for the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was this belief that united the tribes. And in the desert, that unity was demonstrated by the Tabernacle. While it was illegal to approach the Tabernacle, go in, or even come near this place of meeting, people often gathered around it during times of trouble. When the desert wanderings were over, the Tabernacle came to rest in a place named Shiloh, a town located within the tribal land of Ephraim.
However, there was no human leader, partially because God was their leader. There was no human rudder to guide the nation because God was the rudder. There were some national leaders who held sway over Israel, beginning with people like Moses. And while the people didn't always agree with Moses, they followed him. Moses had set Joshua and Caleb up to be the next leaders. But when Joshua and Caleb died, no one had the presence within Israel to call them to God. Yes, they had the priests, but you probably wouldn't even know they were there unless you went to Shiloh. The priests spent most of their time doing the same thing as everyone else. When their time came, they would serve in the Tabernacle, but the rest of the time, they took care of their flocks and raised grain just like everyone else.
Judges 21:25 sums up this dark period of Israel's history. "In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit" (Judges 21:25). But they had the judges, who were periodic leaders who rose to help Israel.
Hannah may not have realized it, but she had become a prophet, at least for this moment. She speaks of her horn, and the horn is an image of strength and power. Hannah had probably been called strong by many well-meaning people over the years. She was strong as she dealt with the disappointment of not having any children. But Hannah is willing to trade that strength for a child. So she says that her strength is lifted high.
Hannah doesn't realize that her child will be the last of the Judges. He would be the link between the Judges of Israel and the Kings that would follow. Not only would Hannah's child be the last of the judges, but he would also be the greatest of the judges. No one would wield the horn of power quite like Samuel in the ancient world. Samuel would lead a stubborn people well. He would be insulted when the people would cry out for a king and would install the first two Kings, Saul and David. Even the Kings understood the power of Samuel, the strength of the man, which began with the horn of his mother, Hannah.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 11
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